1. Vienna, Austria, December 2nd,1998
Exploiting the Opportunities of Space Space in the Service of the Citizen
IST ‘98
Alexander M. Geurtz
SES/ASTRA
Vienna, Austria, December 2nd,1998

2. General Overview Workshop: Exploiting the Opportunities of Space
Panel: Space in the Service of the Citizen
Objectives of the Panel
Overview of new services enabled by space technologies
Impact of new services on the citizen
Future directions in this area

3. AltaVista context search: Space
Exploiting the Opportunities of Space
Intelligent, Networks, Investment, Growth, Media and Marketing
Space in the Service of the Citizen
Online Communities, Disk Space, Promised Land, Public Utilities
Space (WWWebster)
Boundless opportunities for communications, information and learning
Unlimited possibilities as shown by development of satellite Direct-To-Home

4. Direct-To-Home Satellite Television
Multi-channel television
Choice, quality and convenience:
Regulatory drivers:
TV without Frontiers, deregulation
Early eighties: few channels per country
Late nineties: more than 400 programs via ASTRA, received by more than 73 million households (one third DTH/SMATV): initially analog, increasingly digital
Satellite: increasingly strong position in broadcasting

5. New services: Threats and Opportunities
Integration of broadcasting, telecommunications and information technology enabled by transition from analog to digital
Markets shift from one-way to asymmetrical two-way
Main dimensions: directionality and symmetry
Opportunities in business and consumer applications
Demand will increase for instantaneously available, continuously updated, diversified information

6. Building the network of the 21st century
Challenge to create Intelligent Network infrastructure allowing all market parties to connect to the future of broadcasting
SES is taking a gradual approach

7. SES Gradual Approach Transition to digital broadcasting infrastructure
Addition of data broadcasting and multicasting to infrastructure
Upgrade to two-satellite services with Ka band return channel
Geographical expansion to cover new markets, establish partnerships with other operators
High capacity two-way geostationary satellite system for regional coverage
Possible participation in a broadband LEO constellation

8. Conclusions
Challenge to repeat the highly successful, and highly focussed, television broadcast business approach in the era of boundless demand for highly customized interactive services
Leverage technical and commercial strengths
Integrating satellites into the Intelligent Networks of the 21st Century using open standards
Allowing a level playing field for competing as well as complementary infrastructures
Investing the solid revenue stream coming from today’s broadcast services in a market driven way: not too soon, not too late